Vol. 10 · pages 461–465

440 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES was firmly applied. There is a case on record of a Mahar (Untouchable) boy who in 1856 petitioned to the Government of India for being admitted to a Government school in the Dharwar District. The following is the text of the resolution issued by the Government. “The question discussed in the correspondence is one of very great practical difficulty. “1. There can be no doubt that the Mahar petitoner has abstract justice in his side ; and Government trust that the prejudices which at present prevent him from availing himself of existing means of education in Dharwar may be ere long removed. “2. But Government are obliged to keep in mind that to interfere prejudices of ages a summary manner, for the sake of one or few individuals, would probably do a great damage to the cause of education. The disadvantage under which the petitoner labours is not one which has originated with this Government, and it is one which Government cannot summarily remove by interferring in his favour as he begs them to do.” 58. In 1882 Government of India appointed the Hunter Commission to examine the Educational Policy. This Commission made a number of important proposals to spread education among Muslims. With regard to the Untouchables it did nothing. All that it did was to express an opinion that “Government should accept the principle that nobody be refused admission to Government College or School merely on the ground of caste,” but qualified it by saying that the principle should “be applied with due caution!”. 59. This antagonism when it passed away, its place was taken up by negligence and indifference. This negligence and indifference made its appearance not merely in the field of education. It also made its appearance in other fields, particularly in the Army. The whole Army of the East India Company consisted of the Depressed Classes. Indeed but for the Depressed Classes Army the British would never have been able to conquer India. The Untouchables continued to fill the Army till 1892. In 1892 their recruitment in the army was stopped all of a sudden and they were thrown in the street in utter distress with no education and no means to pursue other ways of honourable living. 60. Who can raise the Scheduled Castes from the distress in which they are now grovelling ? It is certain they cannot do it by their own

441 DUTY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS DISTRESSED PEOPLE effort. Their resources are too scanty to afford them the means to raise themselves. They cannot depend upon the charity of the Hindus. The charity of the Hindus is beyond question communal in its scope and its benefits are confined to those who belong to the community of the donor. The Hindu donors are either businessmen or high State officials. The tragedy is that they make their money out of the general public. But when it comes to a question of doing charity they forget the public and remember their own caste and their community. The Scheduled Castes have neither of these sources available to them and they are rigorously excluded from the charity founded by both. The only source therefore on which they can rely is financial aid from Government. I venture to say that it is the duty of the Central Government to come to the rescue of people who are in distress by no fault of theirs as is the case with the Scheduled Castes. The Central Government is bound to take steps to assist the Scheduled Castes to concede their just claims and to compete on more equal terms with their competitors. There is nothing extra-ordinary in asking the Central Government to pay special attention to improve the condition of the Scheduled Castes. Let those who may think so consider the measures the Government of India has adopted for securing the welfare of the Anglo-Indian community. I will mention only a few of them. (1) Higher Salaries There was a time when the Anglo-Indian received a higher salary than the Indian. The extent of difference in the salary of the Anglo-Indian and the Indian will be obvious from the following table which gives figures for salaries on three Railways for a few posts selected at random for the sake of illustration— Designation Anglo-Indians Indians North Western Railway Permanent Way-Inspector 625-25-675 475-25-500 550-25-600 400-25-450 Drivers 260-10-280 Re. 1 to Rs. 1 / 14/ a day Special rate Rs. 2 a day. E. I. Railway Train Examiners 300-25-400 120-15-180 200-20-280 G.P.I. Railway Head Train Examiners 275 125-275 315 365 Washing Chargemen 145 115

442 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES This difference in salary continued upto 1920. Thereafter it was abolished. One difference still remains and that is the AngloIndian gets a basic pay of Rs. 55 per month. He gets this even if he is employed as a peon in a State Railway, while an Indian chaprasi gets only Rs. 13-15. The cost of this favoured treatment to the Anglo-Indians which the Indian Exchequer has to bear annually is Rs. 10,000 in the Posts and Telegraph Department, Rs. 75,000 to the State Managed Railways and Rs. 75,000 to Company Managed Railways, in all Rs. 1,50,000. (2) The reduction in the pass marks for the examination in the telegraph Department from 50 per cent to 40 per cent in each subject and from 66 per cent to 60 per cent in the aggregate especially made to enable Anglo-Indians to compete successfully. 61. There are many other recommendations made by the Stewart Committee on the Anglo-Indians intended to give them special advantages over Indians. But I do not wish to burden this memorandum with them. I am only interested in showing the marked contrast between the treatment accorded to the AngloIndians and the Scheduled Castes. The care of the former and the neglect of the latter stand out in a marked contrast. What is it that can justify this contrast ? In my opinion nothing, and the sooner the Central Government proceeds to assist the Scheduled Castes the better the Government will rank as a Government based on justice. A Government which cheerfully bears the cost of Rs. 1,50,000 annually for the uplift of the Anglo-Indians, can, if it has the will, spend a few lakhs on the Scheduled Castes. zz

SECTION II IMPORTANT CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO TRANSFER OF POWER